The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-12-15
THE ABANDONED TOWN.
Triumph Of the Forests Ended IN
PIscataquis County.
One OF the Watery Gems Along the
Line Of the New Railroad.
Old Louis Annance's Legend OF the
Beautiful Ship Pond.
Correspondence OF the Press.l
MONaoN Ma Dae 10 IQQ,


po int where the first great trestle will cross
Wilson stream eastward Of Greenville, he
looks off from the mountain side over an
area of woodland, which stretches along the
valley for miles up and down the stream. At
his very feet In marked contrast to the inn
penetrable covering Of tree tops TO the right
and left, he will see here and there an open
space and two or three columns Of smoke
rising In the still air from as many houses or
camps. And II he deseends from the noun
tain side the traveller will find that the
woods are not so damp nor the growth so
tangled as In the original forests around !;
while here and there among the forest trees
may be seen scraggy apple tree. an old
stone wall or the foundations Of house. lin
an open glade here and there a tough wiry
grass which the thin covering Of snow does
not conceal, yet maintains with the en-
croaching young birches and naples the riv-
| airy that the.farmer gave up years ago. A
few fields there are still uneonquered by the
forest; and two or three houses. old and
weatherbeaten, shake and rattle in the win
ter gales. Those who 90 to and fro up on
the grade Of the railroad point down to this
place as the abandoned town."
For more than a quarter Of a century it
has been the abandoned town" This year.
stirred into life by the approach Of the lnew
line Of railway. the few people who have
drifted into these woods to find shelter on
the deserted farms, obtained an organization
for plantation, and Elliottsville once more
reappeared on the map Of Maine, from which
the name had been erased thirty years be-
fore.
Away back In 1929 settlers came TO this
place, and cleared up farms. The rich inter-
vale lands beyond Wilson stream and the
mountain were most attractive, while the
falls Of the stream furnished sufficient
water power for saw mills. In 1895 there
were enough settlers to institute a town
government, and for the next quarter OF
century the town Of Elliottsville held an
honorable position in Piscataquis county.
Schools fourished at the foot OF the noun
tains, nowhere was the social life Of the
young people happier; and there are old
men yet in this region who will brighten
like young men Of twenty, when you talk 10
them Of the singing schools and huskings.
and Of the young men and maidens who at
tended them in the happy days Of old Ell
louisville. In its turn the town sent its re-
preventative to the Legislature, Wing or a
Democrat, as public sentiment OF the time
inclined.
But in the years just before the Civil War
the farmers of ElliOttsville began 10 be
troubled, just as the inhabitants Of many
other border towns In Maine have been
troubled. Much Of the town was owned by
non resident landlords, who refused or
neglected to pay their taxes. The lands,
when levied on by the town, failed TO supply
a revenue, because the laws Of Maine are
such that title based on q sale for taxes Is
practically worthless. With no market for
the land taken for taxes, with burden Of
poor increased no doubt beyond what 1t
ought to be by the pauper laws that were In
of Elliottsyille found the support Of a town
government too burdensOme; and In 1858
gave up their organization. One by one the
Inhabitants died or moved away; bushes
sprang up in the fields, and lunmolested for
years grew to tall trees. Elli0ttsville be-
came the woods again.
And had it not been for the building Of the
new railroad across the State, Elliottsville
would probably have remained forest. For
a border Plscataquls town TO go % under Is mo no
unusual occurrence. Besides ElliOttsyille
there were once the towns Of Wilson, Bar
nard, Bowerbank and Kingsbury. One by
one they have succumbed to the encroach-
ments Of the forest, Kingsbury, the last,
| being relieved OF its organization by the Leg
| islature Of 1885 But the building Of the
railroad Is galvanizng into life these defunct
towns. Except Kingsbury, they are all on
| the line OF the road; and 1t Is probable that
| in few years ElliOttsville, Barnard and
1
| towns. Wilson, which has been dismem-
bered, Is gone forever. The valuable hard
woods that abound in this region may soon
be manufactured and carried to markets
over the new road. The dead extremities Of
Piscataquis county will be galvanized into
life. and in few years, undoubtedly, the
northern forest VIII retire from the conquest
that 1t has been gaining and holding for the
last quarter Of century.
LAKE oNAwAY.
Perhaps no more beautiful bit Of Maine
scenery has been opened up by the Canadian
Pacific than surrounds little lake that lies
at the lower extremity Of the magnificent
forest valley through which Wilson stream
flows. From the peculiar shape of an island
in its midst, the lumbermen named this lake
Ship Pond. By this name IL Is called.
throughout this region. Mountains rise on
every side Of the Jake, and the sides Of
Mount BOarst0ne slope to the waters edge.
The railroad location, approaching the am
phitheatre by one Of the immense trestles,
passes In between the mountain sides. winds
along the shore Of the lake at lofty eleya-
tion and passes out again, away from
the delightful scene, by a passage
between the mountain walls. Whatever
wonderful stories the engineers and railroad
builders may tell you Of preelpices and for
est scenery along the road. they reserve their
strongest adiectives for the beauties and the
difficulties OF the route by Ship Pond
The Pond was not without its admirers
long before the Canadian Pacific surveyors
laid out an International highway along Its
shores, but Its remOteneSS has discouraged
most tourists. Yet its admirers have al
ready discarded the prosaic name Of Ship
Pond and prepared 1t for fame as Lake Ona-
way.
1t must be admitted that the claim Of the
Lake to this name Is very good. An Indian
tradition, handed down through an agent
more than usually trustworthy, gives 10 the
name Of Onaway the prestige OF association
with very ancient and astonishing events.
Those who visited Nc lsehead Lake In the
years previous to 1875 may remember the
old st. Francis Indian, t.ouls Annance, who
lived so long at Greenvills. When he died In
1875, after eighty-one years Of life Of inter-
esting vicissitudes, he was m0urned by a
large circle of friends and neighbors Of
another race. No Indian ever lived In Maine
who was better fitted by education TO put in
enduring form the traditions of his race.
Early in the century the Jesuits took him,
the promising son OF st. Francis cheftain
OF the Province Of Quebec. and after training
him In their own schools, sent him 10 Hano-
yer, N. H., 70 prepare for college. On the
outbreak Of the war Of 1872 the British gov
ernment summoned him home to serve with
his tribe. At home, In 1917, he publicly re-
nounced the Roman Catholic faith and there
by renOunced also the succession TO the tri-
bal honors OF his father. Prosecuted for his
Protestant beliefs he returned to Hanover. In
1886 he came to Greenville and made his
lonely home by the shores of the lake. He
died member Of the Congregational Church
and Of the local Masonic Lodge, and much
respected. He 1t Is who received from the
old men Of the PenobscOts and handed down
TO others the tradition Of Lake Onaway,
which is as follows:
Many years ago, so far back In Indian ira
dition that the old men who gave the legend
to Louis Annance did not venture TO number
the generations that had since come and
gone, renowned warrior named WawhoOk
controlled the councils Of the tribes that
dwelt around the lower waters Of the Penob-
scot. In youth active and adventurous.
WawhOok rose by the fortunes Of savage
warfare and by the exercise of wisdom IN
peace, to the chief place in the councils Of
his own people. Stern and silent even In
the company Of his friends, he was ruthless
and terrible to his enemies. Neighboring
tribes either as allies flattered him, or as
enemies feared him. Even the Great Spirit,
80 80 y was whispered in the hunting lodges OF
maine, was not reyereneed by the terrible
Mawhook. For one being only had he aifec-
ton and that was his only child, the beau
tlIul indian maiden Onaway. For her alone
he considered 1t worth while to heap up the
trophies of war; and accumulate the COM